Tony_S

The tilapia in the hippo tank were quite large fish and the ones served up as fish and chips in Texas were definitely fillet sized. I did see some pedicure fish once and they were quite small.

No, fear not, Tucker the hippo is alive and well and according to the Zoo is in a symbiotic relationship with with the tilapia. They eat his poo and clean dead skin from his body. I am not sure what the tilapia I was served in the US had been eating but it tasted very bland.

That was why we moved to a larger house.

I was taken to see Bambi when I was very young, I have no recollection whatsoever. I had a dressing gown with Thumper the Rabbit embroidered on the pocket. My hamster escaped and and turned the pocket into nesting material one night. We got Bambi as a vhs tape for Matthew when he was about 3. Aditi actually edited the film by stopping and fast forwarding it over the “sensitive part”. I did think her concern about him becoming a juvenile delinquent if he watched Pingu was a bit extreme. She soon relaxed when it was clear he wasn’t going to behave like a naughty penguin . As for Mummy disappearing, he didn’t notice for 3 days that she had gone on a field trip to Shropshire.

When my brother was working in Nigeria they were installing microwave links across the country. There was a significant signal loss at one point so my brother set off to investigate the problem at the tower. His line manager wanted to observe. So they set off up the tower. Half way up the manager froze and couldn’t proceed. My brother tied him to the ladder and carried on by himself and aligned the aerial correctly, climbed back to his manager, released him and escorted him to the ground. He didn’t feel the need to observe off ground work again.

I have never eaten a Cadbury Creme Egg. When I was very young I saw a similar mini egg product in a shop window . Mum got me one. I was spectacularly sick on the way home. Never really fancied one since. I don’t think it was actually a Cadbury product. It would have been mid 1950s.

My brother mentioned that the people who climb broadcast towers to install equipment are an interesting bunch of chaps too. In the UK my brother was mainly concerned with the stuff at the bottom of the tower but when he worked overseas the opportunity to go to the top of the towers and repair stuff was,part of to job. . These were I think only 400ft towers. Though he must have been up some towers in the UK as whenever we are out with him, he will point out a microwave tower and tell.us what a lovely view it has from the top.

Thank you for the offer but it would be wasted here. My brother might like it. He has been known to obtain peppers rated as not suitable for human consumption. I do think of one of our occasional meals here as sad goulash. Aditi just seems very sensitive to chilli. Her Dad was too, perhaps it is genetic!

I had another message about the Cincinnati hippos. Apparently “Tucker” is now swimming with fishes. Tilapia to be precise. Though I think he probably isn’t really swimming but elegantly bouncing off the bottom of the pool.

Aditi seems to think about 5 dried chilli flakes in a curry is a bit hot. I have been able to get away with more when I cook if there is emergency yoghurt available.

I had to Google that but it appears it is available from the supermarkets and delivery services we use. Though it probably won’t be purchased as Aditi isn’t that keen on “hot” spicy sauces. I haven’t been to Asia so my consumption of bibimbap has been in London and Dublin.

I looked out, had absolutely no intention of going out, and don’t think I need to. Unless it is to sort out the recycling for tomorrow’s collection.

We used to have a couple of pet rats. They were definitely “cute”. I think one of the things that rats do that makes them unpopular with humans is the prodigious weeing especially when it spoils food storage. And I suppose the gnawing too. The most common negative remark about our son’s rats was along the lines of “those tails are horrible “.

Definitely not boring. I am always impressed by how much you do each day. Your day to day photography has inspired me to think about taking a camera (not a phone) when we go for a walk.I put our Nikon Coolpix on charge yesterday and re entered all the date, time and some default settings that had been lost due to being uncharged for such a long time. It stopped being used because Aditi got a Panasonic Lumix that had quite a lot of optical zoom but would easily fit in a coat pocket. Then we just started using phone cameras.

Does Joe le Taxi work there?

The lovely display of wisteria flowers we get are actually on next doors plant. It doesn’t flower on their side of the fence! We have been given a few shrubs by them that don’t settle in their garden. They often thrive in ours, probably due to lack of feeding and no watering other than what drops from the sky.

Richard and Linda Thompson had a song called Streets of Paradise. One of the more cheerful songs they performed. Well, cheerful except for the lyrics. Tony

Quite a few British cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas and have Hamilton painted on the back end. This caused a hiatus in the very profitable weddings at sea business. Due to a change in Bahamian law captains could only marry opposite sex couples. Rather than discriminate against same sex couples all weddings were cancelled. I think vow renewals continued.

Spiders like living in the door mirrors here. When the mirror heaters come on they run out.

Looks great to me. Are you sure you aren’t on the ISS?

I think that is certainly true in my case. The Evoque has a glass roof so it doesn’t seem to have quite as many places for the moss to lurk as the Fiests. Miss used to,block,our gutters and down pipes but after we installed hedgehog gutter brushes, moss bounces over the gutters on to the cars or drive. I think I prefer a bit of sweeping than cleaning gutters. Tony

I spent a few years as a small child living on what is now known to be a radon hotspot! With that and the strontium 90 about then I am surprised I don’t glow in the dark!

I have never been to Aberdeen. Probably the nearest was somewhere in the Cairngorms on a day out from from a camping holiday next to the Moray Firth. Going out for a drive was a good way of keeping warm. We will be sailing past in the summer as we head north on our way to Iceland.I am not sure whether we will be able to see Aberdeen from,whatever course the cruise ship is on.

Our Fiesta is home to various types of moss too. Shows what clean air we have I think.

When I read about the Dull Mens Club I did actually think it looked a bit too exciting for me. I am amazed at all the things other ERs manage to do with their time, I seem to sleep more than average.